The Common App: Writing Section

Keep trying

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but 2025 seems determined to go out with an extra allotment of chaos, violence, and tragedy. The past week alone has left me reeling. On top of that, there’s ordinary life to be lived—final exams and college applications and work and making dinner and shopping for gifts and a mailbox full of holiday cards that suggest that everyone else’s lives are better, or at least better curated, than yours. Oh, and if you’re in the Northern hemisphere, you can also enjoy shorter days and colder temperatures, so that’s fun.

All of which strikes me as a perfect time to talk about college essays.

Yes, really. Even with the chaos and violence and tragedy and insufferable holiday cards. Especially with all those things. Because if you’re the parent of a teenager, or teenager-adjacent, your teen is either trying to finish their college essays or will be trying to finish their college essays in the not too distant future. Life goes on even in the midst of chaos and tragedy…